The number of immigrants in the UK hit a record this year, with more than half a million people taking up residence in the country, a situation London explains with “unprecedented world events”.
Figures released this Thursday by the UK’s Office of National Statistics show that the so-called net migration figure, which results from subtracting long-term immigration and emigration data, was 504,000 new residents.
The value, updated to June, implies a drastic increase from the 173 thousand immigrants registered last year.
According to the British authorities, the record was due to “a unique period”, in which the resumption of international mobility after the improvement of the Covid-19 pandemic, the support to Ukrainian citizens and the establishment of a new migration system after the exit from the European Union (“Brexit”).
The growth in the number of immigrants was also due to an increase in the arrival of international students, who studied remotely during the pandemic, according to the statistics office.
“All of these phenomena have contributed to a high level of total immigration in the long run,” the institute explains.
The net migration rate mainly corresponds to non-EU citizens, as the number of EU citizens living in the UK decreased between June 2021 and June this year (51 thousand fewer people), and 45 thousand Britons also decided to emigrate.
The previous record for net migration was set in 2015, the year of Europe’s major migration crisis, reaching 330,000 people in the UK.
Concern about the impact of immigration in the country was one of the main drivers behind the vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in 2016.
At the time, Prime Minister David Cameron wanted to achieve a net migration rate of less than 100,000 people per year.
The surge in immigration has once again made headlines in the UK in recent weeks as some business leaders urged the government to ease the entry of foreign workers to boost economic growth.
The appeal was rejected by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who on Monday defended the need to fight illegal immigration in the country.
The government, namely Prime Minister and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, is under pressure to prevent illegal migrants from making dangerous journeys across the English Channel (which separates France from England) and over criticism of overcrowded reception centres.
Earlier this month, London signed an agreement with France to step up efforts to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel.
According to the British government, 33,029 people were caught crossing the Channel in small boats between January and September this year.
Source: DN
